Monday, August 31, 2015

Training has been going great so far!

Well, I make no secrets about it. I want to compete again. Watching the 2015 Track and Field Championships ignited something in me as watching any major Track and Field Championships does. I want it and if my two achilles' can hold up, I will continue training for it. Never did I imagine that my achilles' would be my limiting factors but here I am trying to rehab not one but two damaged ones. They don't hurt 100% of the time but they don't feel good 100% of the time either. It sucks, but I have been better about wearing my Kinesio Tape before doing any real running and trying to wear my compression socks a bit more.



In the Weight Room, I adopted that 5-3-1 Training Program and that has been going very well for me. I'm on week 8 right now which is my deload week but aside from my deloads my reps have been continually going up even though my weight is going up! Thus, I am making good progress. The major lifts for this program are Bench Press, Squat, Deadlift, and Shoulder Press. After I finish my required lifts for the day, I normally finish up with some Pullups/Chinup work and a bunch of Ab work.


If I can make my speed increase the same way my strength is going up then this will be a wonderful season. I figure what the hell, I can still try to beat all of the other 30+ year olds in the nation.


Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Trying to get this Small group workout off the ground

Ok, so I recently decided I would try to start a small workout class/session. Afterall, many many people have asked me about doing one so I finally decided ok lets do it. However, now that I have actually dedicated a time to doing one, seems like nobody wants to commit to it. Now, it seems like everyone I talk to prefers a one on one session for whatever reason.
I'm still trying to get it off the ground because 1) it is cheaper than my one on one sessions thus more people can afford it. 2) I can meet with more people at one time. 3) Sometimes it's more fun to workout in a group than solo.
I understand in life you have to pay your dues sometimes and build things up but it's sucks not having the constant flow that I think it should have. Ah well, I guess this is part vent, part inquiry as to any suggestions that might help this class manifest as it should.
We currently meet at 5:30pm MWF at City Park. Is this a bad time? There have been between 2-5 people on a given day, is this intimidating? I guess at the end of the day I just need more exposure... To be continued... MarkBFitness

Wednesday, August 19, 2015

Omega-3 Supreme 1400 mg Fish Oil Concentrate 180ct- PRODUCT REVIEW

Product Review for OMEGA-3 SUPREME 1400 MG FISH OIL CONCENTRATE 


If you ever go on any of the bodybuilding sites or listen to Dr. Oz, you will here the recommendation of taking Omega 3 Fish Oils! Personally, I have never used them before so I didn't know what to think nor did I have any expectations. But I will give you my unbiased opinion on this supplement and let you know if I had any noteworthy results.

SO WHY SHOULD YOU TAKE FISH OIL?
I came across this website give you 5 reasons why you should take Fish Oil.
Here is the link to the fullarticle:   http://www.poliquingroup.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/964/Five_Reasons_Fish_Oil_Will_Make_You_Stronger_Leane.aspx

In summary
1) Fish Oil can help you lose body fat
2) Fish Oil can help you build muscle
3) Fish Oil will decrease body inflammation, enhancing body composition
4) Improve Insulin sensitivity and metabolism
5) Improve body composition

FIRST IMPRESSIONS and THOUGHTS

Like I said, I've never taken any type of Fish Oil before so I really had no expectations.
The pills were a bit bigger than I was expecting but still smaller than horse pills and
not hard to swallow due to the gel coating. I was also pleased that there was no fish taste or
burping that I hear can sometimes accompany fish oil pills.

So far everything seems to be working in order. No side effects so far. I'm not exactly sure if it is helping me at the moment but I also don't feel like it is hurting me so I will finish out the bottle and see if I feel better after taking it. I did receive a free bottle of this supplement in return for my honest review. As you can see this was my honest first hand assessment.

Some other faqs listed on the bottle include:
Life & Food Omega-3 Supreme Advantage 
○ Highly concentrated and pure, pharmaceutical grade (above 75% Omega-3) 
○ 644/336 EPA/DHA levels (Meeting GOED standards). 
○ Fish Oil concentrate made from IFOS 5-star certified fish oils (raw material). 
○ Contains the minimum recommended 1,000 mg (1g) of Omega-3s per serving. 
○ Sourced from wild Alaskan caught Pollock. Sustainable and certified operation by MSC. 
○ USA Manufactured and laboratory tested in FDA, GMP, NSF certified facilities. 
○ Molecularly distilled, clean refined and tested. ○ Easy to swallow soft gelatin capsules. 
○ Enteric coated for max absorption and no fish burps. 

Guaranteed to be pharmaceutical grade 75% Omega-3s (with 644 mg of EPA and 336 mg of DHA) meeting GOED Standard levels. GOED, The Global Organization for EPA and DHA Omega-3s, was developed to help ensure that omega-3 oils reaching consumers were both safe and of high quality. 

FINAL THOUGHTS
So if you are in the market for a Fish Oil pill, give this one a try and see how it works for you,
It's currently on sale on amazon for 26.97 for the 180 ct.


Thanks for reading!
-Mark BFitness

Wednesday, August 12, 2015

M-100s Workout

Here is a pretty simple but effective workout to get the heart rate bumping as a warm up, finishing, or total workout depending on your fitness level. It's simple in concept. 100 reps! These reps will be broken into sets of 3.
Your sets will consist the following:
 10 Burpees
 10 Mountain Climbers
 10 Double Pump Squat Jumps

Thats one set. Repeat that 3 times and finish off with another set of 10 Burpees. And there you have it. 100 reps in the books, you have just completed M-100s. These are the types of workouts that aid fat loss! They are short but high intensity thus even when you finish working out your body will still be burning tons of calories! They call this the AfterBurn effect.

Give it a try and let me know how you make out!!! You can also take this template and create limitless variations of this workout so be creative, have fun, and most importantly MOVE SOMETHING!!!


Here's another variation of the M-100 workout I created. Give this one a try as well!!!


-Mark B Fitness

Monday, August 3, 2015

APE TAPE- Product Review

                                                    ----------APE TAPE-------
I was recently selected to give a review of a product called Ape Tape. Ape Tape is a new type of athletic tape used to aid in recovery/help you perform through injuries.The box claims it does the following: Reduces muscle and joint pain, enhances recovery and helps fight fatigue, and can be used to apply compression or decompression. Obviously as an athlete, these are all desired effects. One can search out youtube and find a variety of videos showing how to properly apply this type of tape to a multitude of sports injuries and conditions. So here's my opinion of the product.



-THE GOOD
This stuff works! Both of my achilles have been injured within the last 5 years in some form or fashion. I say 5 years because the first one was injured about 5 years ago still gives me discomfort to this day. My newest achilles injury wasn't as severe however it reminds me every day that it has not healed 100%. Enter Ape Tape! Once I taped up my achilles' tendons I immediately felt relief on both legs. It's amazing how something so simple can work so quickly. Within minutes of being taped I feel like I was ready to sprint again with no problem.



Colors
There are a wide variety of colors to choose from. Personally, I like to stick with black myself but the available colors vary from the following:
Blue, orange and power black on Amazon and atleast another 8 more according to the box.    

Sizes-
Ape Tape comes in 2 different sizes - 2inch and 4inch. The prices on amazon are 24.95 for the 2inch and 29.95 for the 4 inch. The total length of tape measured off at 24.4 ft. This is atleast 8 ft more than you get with most of the other brands and because the tape is not pre-cut you can decide just how much you want to use at any given application. Additionally, the grid pattern on the backside of the tape helps to measure and make accurate cuts.

-THE BAD


As soon as I opened the package, the smell of medicated adhesive rushed my nose. My athletic tape may smell that way but this was the first time I noticed it so abruptly. Ape Tape claims to use a special proprietary APESTICK Hypoallergenic adhesive  so maybe that was the smell I noticed. Either way, that doesn't have an affect on it's usefullness however it was something that caught my attention.


The packaging claims that you can wear their product for 5 days straight. It is supposed to be water resistant and sweat proof! Honestly,  I have yet to find an athletic tape where this has been 100% true. Three days of adhesion, maybe! But five, that has not been my experience. Matter of fact, the first application came off within minutes of me starting to sweat. That said, I assumed human error and gave it a second try which went alot better than the first. Rounding the corners off of the edges helped alot, also I believe wiping the application site with alcohol before adhesion helped too.  Five days may be possible depending on where the person is placing the tape. Additionally, the amount of body hair a person has may make a difference also.


-SUMMARY
Ape Tape is just as good as any other kinesio tape on the market in my opinion. The additional 8ft of tape also makes it an attractive brand to purchase. I wish I could validate the claim that it will last five days however that was not my experience. I did like the size of the tape as I felt it was thicker than the other athletic tapes that I am use to. Bottom line, does it work on injuries? You bet your butt it does and at the end of the day that's all that matters. If you are a competitive athlete you are only truly worried about your tape working during training or on GAME DAY.  A new application would typically be used after that so whether your tape can last five days or not is more of a moot point. When it counts Ape Tape delivers!

Disclosure- I received this product free so that I could give my honest unbiased review. The opinions expressed are my own and have not been influence in anyway by the company.